of the present day, Mr. Ferguson states to be
Anglo-Saxon for royal offspring! I certainly
should not like to ask her Majesty how the
Kinchin was. Dreadful! Holborn is the
same as Holloway, or Holstein; the same as
Bernal, the same as Osborne; so that this
last well-known parliamentary name may be
rendered in several ways with the same
meaning,—Osborne-Osborne, Bernal-Bernal,
Holborn-Holborn, and with other possible
variations. Case, Chase, Cheese, and Kiss,
are all exchangeable terms, to the utter
confusion of the song, which may be now sung,
without making nonsense, as, Bread and
kiss and balmy cheeses. Crusoe and Locke
are twin brothers; Oswald, Osmond, and
Osbaldiston, are reduced to Ass! Rudiger
is Roger, and Roger is Ledger; Sugden is
Hogg, Pigg, or Grissell; Meer (a downright
provincialism) is the proper pronunciation of
Mare; there is no difference between Cow
and Sherry; and Buckingham is the same as
Box, or Tarbox. Fancy the Duke of
Tarbox. Horrible!

Bug, the name of that odious insect, is a
title of ancient reverence, rather than
disgust; and Oak is the same as Axe; the
destroyer and the destroyed being in the
closest relationship. Akenside and Acroyd
spring from this; and Ax used in place of
Ask, for which I have often reproved my
servants, has the sanction of a remote
antiquity to keep it in countenance. Gold
glides through Goulburn and Gullet into
Gulliver; Stone changes to Stain, Stainsby,
Freestone, and Hastings; and Amber is the
most uncommon name in the whole of a
number of London Directories. I could
never see any aristocracy about it. Gun may
be Good, Good may be Guthrie, and they
all may be Gumboil! Shade—the solemn
and mysterious shade—is reduced to
Haddock, that vulgar fish; and Cadwalha, King
of Wessex, may be called Headache. Fancy
King Haddock, or King Headache! It's
worse than those burlesques. Brandy means
one having a sword, and is soon exchanged
for Hildebrand; while Cord is Card, and
Card is Cardwell.

Springing from words signifying a spear, is
a most fruitful list of well-known names,
amongst many others, Gore, Goring, Garrison,
Garrick, German, Jerrold, Garment,
Garland, Garraway, Whittaker, Garden,
Jerdan, and Danger. Harold, Luther, Theodore,
Hereward, Herod, may be Harry or
Herring; while Home and Omega are both
the same thing, and mean uncle. The venerable
name of Canute is reduced Knut or
Nutt; and, to make it more vulgar and
common-place, it is traced to a wen or
tumour on the side of the head. Bob, I am
told, is not a corruption of Robert, but an
ancient word signifying a boy, from which
comes Pope, Poppy, and Puplett: meaning,
perhaps, Puppy! Dandy seems to mean an
eminent man; and Trowel, a Christian.
Times is a name derived from mildness,
modesty, affability, and liberality; and Marley
(notwithstanding the character in the
Christmas Carol) has the same signification.
Blood stands for timidity and bashfulness;
and Hogg, Hodge, Higgins, and Huggins,
mean cogitation. Booker means an author,
and Bookless stands for book-learned, or one
able to read. Fogie (a very rude term) is
the same as foggy, a stupid fellow, a simpleton;
and Spooney (another excessively rude
term) means enticer, or allurer. Cant is a
song; Gall is pleasant; Gale is a singer;
Wesley is miserable; Gratton is tearful;
and Swears is heavy and sorrowful. Names
equivalent to Oaf were borne by several of a
royal line; and Dodda, which may mean,
blockhead, was a very common title for a
prime-minister. Coster is a tempter, and
Monger is a compound of man; consequently
Costermonger must be a very fascinating
individual. Sewer is a very unpleasant name
for a wise man; and Vicar very improperly
means a pirate. It is some comfort in all
this turning of everything upside down, to
find that Pagan and Payne have the same
meaning: an unbaptized person. Sunday
stands for a sailor, or a swimmer; Pharaoh
means a traveller; Furnace is the same as
Furness; and Swift's satire falls harmless
upon that citizen whom he ridiculed for
changing his name from Furnace to Furnice,
Furnise, Furnesse, and Furness. Bradshaw
means Broadwood; and Ale, Goodale, Beer,
Wine, Portwine, Sherry, Negus, Rum, Goodrum,
Gin, Brandy, Cream, Custard, and
Coffee, are all proper names from different
sources, having nothing whatever to do with
beverages. Rain, Frost, Snow, Snowball,
Hail, Hailstone, Storm, Thunder, Cold, Fog,
Mist, are mostly derived from a mythological
origin, and do not refer in any way to the
weather. Supposed contractions, such as
Benn, Will, Sams, Sim, Timms, Tom,
Dick, and Harry (sternly forbidden to be
used in genteel academies), are not, I am
told, vulgar abbreviations of well-known
names, but Teutonic titles of antiquity, far
higher even than the full unclipped Scriptural
appellations from which they are popularly
held to be derived.

The rude and popular Villikins is again
the putative parent of the aristocratic
Villiers, Wilmot, Willis, and a host of others.
Fancy Villiers and his Dinah! The principle
that lies at the bottom of all Teutonic names
must be a very vulgar and dangerous
principle; for when a child is given to scream, it
is proper and in analogy with the language,
to call it Screamy; to call a man with a
large nose Nosey, and so on, through a long
list of qualities turned into proper, or, what
I should call, very improper names;
especially when taught to the rising generation.

In the demolition of ridiculous and
common farcical titles, Mr. Ferguson's book is
very active. Firkin is shown to mean the